Found this one on a French site; I’ll have to get my son to translate for me. Made a few mods due to materials at hand - grizzly instead of CDL for the tail (don’t got none) and hen pheasant breast for mallard (2700 miles away; also like the markings on the pheasant). Cool fly; change colors to suit your needs.
hook - Dai Riki 320 #14
thread - MFC 8/0 sand
tail - grizzly
abdomen - goose biot yellow
hackle - dun
collar - hen pheasant breast
Part 1
mash barb, start thread, wrap to point above barb and create a small bump
even tips on a clump of hackle barbs; measure (shank length) and tie in
tie in (moistened) biot, notch side down; wrap to 50% mark, tie off/trim
tie in hackle; wrap forward (leave one hook eye width behind eye)
Took it for a test drive later in the morning; March Browns and grey drakes are supposed to be out and about, neither of which this one resembles but all I need is one stupid fish.
headwaters (open for business in 3 weeks)
from here on, we’re legal
stupid fish found (biggest cutt I’ve ever caught on this water; maybe a run-up?)
Ooh la la.
I’m re-reading Neil Patterson’s “Chalkstream Chronicle”. In it he spends some time discussing fly fishing in Normandy. (That’s Normandy, France and not the town of Normandy, Tennessee. So far as I know, he has never fished the Duck River.)
He also discusses some of the French patterns.
I heartily recommend his book.
A bit of a follow-up from Martin’s comment on the partridge front hackle. I use another french wet fly pattern, the Assassine, that is close to the D22 above. It omits the tail, the yellow body is Pearsall’s, and the dun hackle is a full palmer, front to back (then ribbed with the Pearsall’s). The front hackle is also Partridge - it is a great fish catcher and also a great looking fly.
@Alberto: yes, the Assassine is a great pattern. I fish it as a dry fly, though. Yellow body, grey palmered saddle hackle with two or three extra wraps towards the front mixed with the Partridge. Killer!
